Queen Hortense eBook

But Hortense had accepted her destiny, and was determined
to demean herself as became her own and her mother’s
dignity. She endeavored to be a true and sincere
friend to the young empress, and fulfil the emperor’s
wishes, and to give brilliant entertainments in honor
of the King of Rome, in spite of the pain it must
cost her. “The emperor wills it, the emperor
requires it;” that was sufficient for all who
were about him, and it was sufficient for her.
Her mother had gone because it was his will, she had
remained because it was his will, and she now gave
these entertainments for the same reason. But
there was an element of sadness and gloom even in
these festivities of the carnival of 1813; the presence
of so many cripples and invalids recalled the memory
of the reverses of the past year. At the balls
there was a great scarcity of young men who could
dance; incessant wars had made the youth of France
old before their time, and had converted vigorous men
into cripples.

Her heart filled with dark forebodings, Hortense silently
prepared herself against the days of misfortune which
she knew must inevitably come. When these days
should come, she wished to be ready to meet them with
a brave heart and a resolute soul, and she also endeavored
to impress on the minds of her two beloved sons the
inconstancy of fortune, in order that they might look
misfortune boldly in the face. She had no compassion
with the tender youth of these boys, who were now eight
and six years old; no compassion, because she loved
them too well not to strive to prepare them for adversity.

One day the Duchess of Bassano gave a ball in honor
of the queen, and Hortense, although low-spirited
and indisposed, summoned her resolution to her aid,
and arrayed herself for the occasion. Her blond
hair, that reached to her feet when unbound, was dressed
in the ancient Greek style, and adorned with a wreath
of flowers, not natural flowers, however, but consisting
of Hortensias in diamonds. Her dress was of pink-crape
embroidered with Hortensias in silver. The hem
of her dress and its train was encircled with a garland
of flowers composed of roses and violets. A bouquet
of Hortensias in diamonds glittered on her bosom,
and her necklace and bracelets consisted of little
diamond Hortensias. In this rich and tasteful
attire, a present sent her by the Empress Josephine
the day before, Hortense entered the parlor where the
ladies and gentlemen of her court awaited her, brilliantly
arrayed for the occasion.

The parlor, filled with these ladies glittering with
diamonds, and with these cavaliers in their rich,
gold-embroidered uniforms, presented a brilliant spectacle.
The queen’s two sons, who came running into the
room at this moment to bid their “bonne petite
maman” adieu, stood still for an instant, dazzled
by this magnificence, and then timidly approached
the mother who seemed to them a queen from the fairy-realm
floating in rosy clouds. The queen divined the
thoughts of her boys, whose countenances were for
her an open book in which she read every emotion.